The Division War
The Division War was a decade long military conflict between Upyri Peacekeeping forces and Insurrectionist forces. The Peacekeeping forces were led by the military forces of Hemera and Nyx, while the Insurrectionist forces were led by Ker's military armada. This conflict marked the end of the Confederation of Upyri Worlds, and ended with the birth of the Upyri Federation of Planets. Origins The Division War found its roots literally with the founding of the Confederation of Upyri Worlds. At its founding, the Confederation was loosely tied together. Planets were still able to govern themselves freely, establish their own laws, control their own trade agreements and prices, and controlled their own militaries. Meanwhile, the smaller colony planets bore no representation in the 'government' of the Confederation, which was simply made up of members from each of the larger trading planets. Those planets set the loose rules for the entire Confederation. With no representation, the smaller colonies had no say in what went on, and usually were dominated by the larger member planets. During the 1800s - 2000s, the member planets began to argue over unfair tariffs and taxes that other member planets were establishing on certain trade goods. Prices for goods also began to skyrocket for certain planets and colonies. Colonies began to either dwindle to nothing without trade goods because they simply didn't have the cash to pay for the items they needed to continue functioning properly. Eventually, this came to a head when some planets began to enforce their will with military force. One of the chief problem makers was Ker. Being one of the strongest of the military worlds, they began to bully their way into getting what they wanted from the other colonies. Hemera and Nyx, the homeworlds of the Upyri species, tried its best to work things out between worlds and keep the peace, but failed to do so as there were no strict laws in place and other planets just simply refused to listen. Ignition On June 18th, 2190, a large trade convoy was stopped during its voyage from Nyx to a small colony in the southwest quadrant by Ker warships. The captain of the lead warship demanded that the convoy reroute and deliver its cargo to Ker. The convoy's representative refused, as the cargo was in dire need by the colony that it was venturing to. After an hour of arguing and demands, the captain of the lead warship ordered that the convoy be fired upon and destroyed. If Ker wasn't getting the cargo, nobody was. The three Ker warships opened fire and completely obliterated the convoy, even destroying the life pods as some of the crew attempted to escape. The news of this attack gets back to Nyx and Hemera, which denounce the act and declare Ker a hostile entity. All trade with Ker is cut off by Hemera/Nyx and their allies. Ker responds to this act by attacking the colony that the convoy had been traveling to. The colony is completely destroyed by orbital bombardment. Shortly after the destruction of the colony, Hemera and Nyx (and their allies) declare war on Ker. Ker and its allies respond with their own declarations of war, and the Division War begins on June 23rd, 2190. Orbital Bombardments Over the course of the war, Ker and its allies used the tactic of raiding and destroying smaller colonies that were allied with the Peacekeeping forces. The method of destruction? Orbital bombardment. Ker's battleships would orbit the colony (alongside allied ships), and proceed to destroy the colony using the mass driver/gauss/rail weaponry. This lead to countless civilian lives being lost, numbering well over two billion. Some colonies were severely damaged, or rendered totally lifeless after the attacks. Battle of Moirai (July 13th, 2200) Moirai was a small colony near the central cluster at the center of the galaxy, which was being used as sort of a scientific research outpost.There, scientists were studying the super-massive black hole that supposedly sits directly in the center of the galaxy. Ker had other plans for the site, wishing to use it as sort of a stepping stone to launch assaults against the colonies nearest Nyx and Hemera. Hemera caught word of this, and sent a small fleet to intercept the Ker fleet at Moirai. Leading the Hemeran forces was a captain by the name of Tirell Metais. Tirell, having noticed the tactics Ker-based fleets used to engage targets, devised a plan just before reaching Moirai. Ker forces had a habit of warping in close to enemy ships, and devastating them using large barrages of gunfire and missiles. The Hemera fleet would spread out around Moirai, and lure in the Ker fleets to engage them. The trick was, when the Ker forces would warp in, they would either warp right into an asteroid field, or would warp into the gravitational pull of one of the larger bodied planets or stars near Moirai. And just as planned, they did. A quarter of the Ker fleet was destroyed immediately as they warped in, either colliding with asteroids or planets, or being sucked into the hot plasma of a star. During the course of the battle, the rest of the fleet would be eliminated in direct combat, or by friendly fire (as incoming forces would collide with either destroyed ships or their own allies.) Some even attempted to warp out, only to be destroyed as they warped through objects or were thrown massively off-course by the intense gravitational pull from the stars and planets. Those that were flung off-course wound up either in some other location in the galaxy, or lost to the vastness of the universe. The battle was a major victory for Hemera and the Peacekeeping forces, as it crippled Ker's massive naval armada in one go. It also propelled Tirell to fame, and would be the main reason he was selected as the Grand Admiral for the Federation Navy after the war. Jiral Neaars also took part in the battle, taking over a crippled ship after his captain had been killed in the fight, and making sure it and its remaining crew would survive the fight. Surrender of Ker and its Allies, and the Aftermath of the War A few months after the major loss at the Battle of Moirai, Ker and most of the Insurrectionist forces would surrender to the Peacekeeping forces on September 5th, 2200. Upon their surrender, most of Ker's leadership (as well as the leaders of the other Insurrectionist forces) would be taken into custody and charged with war crimes. All were convicted, and sentenced to either death by firing squad or life in prison. The remaining ships in Ker's armada were impounded, and either scrapped or refitted for use in the Federation Navy after the war. The rest of Ker's military forces were completely reorganized and sorted through to eliminate those that were still threats to peace. The same happened to the rest of the Insurrectionist forces, but some managed to flee Upyri space and became known as the Separatist factions after the war. The war costed billions of lives, trillions of credits, and multiple colonies. The Confederation was no more. In its place, a new Federation was established, and new laws and regulations were put into place to prevent anything like the Division War from ever happening again. Category:Battles